The Wildfires Projekt talks upcoming EP, tour, and personal struggles—exclusive interview

All Punked Up caught up with Johnny Zirkel, the solo artist behind The Wildfires Projekt, to talk about his personal struggles, new EP, and upcoming tour with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

The Wildfires Projekt will release their latest EP titled From Which We Came on April 7th. Be sure to check out The Wildfires Projekt on Spotify and Instagram!

Q: So, your new EP From Which We Came will release on April 7th. Take me through the writing process for this EP. Who did you work with? What was your goal when writing and producing this EP?

Johnny: It actually started with my TV show that airs late-night on CBS [Sounds from the Underground]. Ronnie Winter from the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was on it and performed with our band. A couple of weeks later, we began talking about working on a record together. We actually went into writing on our first day with a lot of songs I had pre-written. Everything flowed so well.

We started the actual tracking and did most of it within a couple of weeks. It was really great! Ronnie did a lot of the reworking of vocals and restructuring of songs. We also worked with John Espy who did the mixing and added some more of those modern elements.

Q: When did you finish the album?

Johnny: We actually just finished getting the masters back. We pretty much worked on it once or twice a week as we were doing different things, writing on our own, and dealing with everyone’s schedules. We were able to work pretty quickly and efficiently. Most of the parts were in place. It was just the little bits of touching up and redoing certain parts that took a little longer.

Q: Which song from From Which We Came are you most proud of?

Johnny: So, that can be a couple of songs for different reasons. I had always wanted to create an intro to a record that had a little bit of depth to it. And as people listen to the intro track that goes into “White Jacket,” they’ll notice that there are a lot of psychiatrists talking about multiple-personality disorder. Those were actual interviews I found from decades ago when it first started becoming a recognized illness. Being able to take that and move it into a song that metaphorically speaks to a psychiatric standpoint was very cool for me.

And then “Eyes Sewn Shut,” which is the final track on the record, is the most personal song. I’m proud of that song because I spoke about a specific situation in my life when I was dealing with addiction. I had driven my car off the road and almost died. The song takes on the perspective as if I had died and God is talking to me at the end of my life about how things could have been different.

That was actually the song we started with and worked on the most. It quickly got to the point where we were like, “This song is a good song,” but we wanted to give it a little extra time to pull it together so that the music worked a little more with the vocals. Ronnie is not technically a feature on the songs, but he is singing on some of the record. In the bridge, you’ll hear a high vocal and that’s Ronnie harmonizing with me.

Q: If you could describe the EP in one word or phrase, how would you describe it?

Johnny: It’s definitely an EP that doesn’t hold back. A lot of times we have to, as artists, make the music and the lyrics fit more into what is seen as acceptable. Since we were working just as artists and we didn’t have anyone else above us, we were able to express ourselves more naturally and keep to that honest emotion.

I have been in previous bands and it is not necessarily wrong, but there are a lot of things I couldn’t do or couldn’t say. With this project, I came to the realization that I just wanted to do something real. While it may not necessarily be what people are expecting commercially, it’ll be a little more true to myself.

I think that’s one of the reasons that Ronnie and I connected. He had gone through some of the same things. We were working as artists in the industry. And his development of faith throughout was just a connection we built organically.

Ronnie was great to work with because to him there was never a throwaway line. A lot of times it’s hard to find a couple of words to a certain part and you’re like, “Oh, this works well enough.” But with him, he really focused on making sure every single word made sense and tied everything together. Without him there, I probably wouldn’t have been on point with that. So that was definitely a revelation for us working together and something I can take moving forward.

Q: Lyrically, which song are you most proud of?

Johnny: It would definitely be “Eyes Sewn Shut” just because of how personal that is. I’d have to say the second song would be “Once an Addict, Always Dramatic.” We really had fun with that and a lot of times when people talk about how they weren’t the best person in the past, they kind of cover it up in certain ways or make it sound like they weren’t really at fault, saying “It’s just how it is.” But the song literally says “I’m sorry I was such a d*ck” over and over. It’s just very straightforward but still fun. That’s our little bit of release from the depth and seriousness of the other songs.

I showed my dad the record and after listening to it he was like “This is a great record. There’s so much I have to process right now, though.”

Q: Which song are you most excited to play live?

Johnny: So, the second single is going to be “Open Heart // Closed Casket.” That’s going to be fun because of that second verse. It has such a bold drop that, I don’t know how to describe it, but when you’re thinking of a stage presence and the band, the lighting, and the audience, I think that song will get the most reaction. Especially because at the beginning of the tour, it won’t even be released yet. So, people will not be expecting that part of the song.

Q: What are you excited or nervous about with your upcoming tour with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus?

Johnny: I have toured a lot in the past, so I’m comfortable with that. What is different is this is the first time I’m playing with new members behind me and it’ll be interesting to see how we’re going to be together on the road. You do become a family and all families have different things that they love about each other and don’t love. Figuring that out is going to be interesting.

On stage, you might get in your head beforehand, but once you’re out there, you’re just connecting with people. That’s really the main goal. If you do that, you’re in the place you want to be.

Q: So, is The Wildfires Projekt going to continue as a solo project or are you looking at creating a band?

Johnny: This started as a very personal, solo project. I would ideally like to have a band that is considered the band. But for now, until I really work with people more… I want to be able to get to know them enough to say that “Okay, these people 100% get the message and they are the right people for this band.” And I won’t know that until we start traveling together and see how everything develops.

With our other bands, for some reason, it was always the bassist. You bring someone in, you put them on all the promotional material, they do one tour, and then they’re gone. And you’re like, “We just presented you to the world as one of us, and now we have to do it again.” From a fan’s perspective, they don’t like it when their bands change members.

Q: What inspires you?

Johnny: That is a good question. I think one of the things that helped me was getting involved more in the church. Through that, I met a lot of people who came from similar backgrounds, like the original drummer from Buckcherry was there and some other people who had also turned their lives around. I was able to interact with people that understood what I was going through and could guide me. I wouldn’t just be like “Oh, you don’t understand” because they’d say “No, I understand. I was 10 times worse than you.”

And honestly, meeting Ronnie. I remember when we first met, we got into a bunch of conversations and there were certain things he said that I was like “That was life-changing advice. That was incredible.”

Q: Does your faith play an active role in your music?

Johnny: There’s definitely an influence, but I would never consider us a Christian band. I do pull from those influences and I like to tackle real issues. I want to talk to the people who are in that situation I was and subtly involve it. Maybe then people will be like, “This is something that could work, let me try it and see where it goes from there.”

There are people like Underoath and Korn where they are not pushing things on you, they just have it there. And that helps because people don’t like being pushed into things.

There are great lessons to be learned in all belief systems and I use those as lyrical content. I don’t think you have to follow one type of faith or the other to understand human emotion.

Q: On a lighter note, what music do you put on when you first get in the car?

Johnny: Today, driving to work, it was Senses Fail’s most recent record. A lot of the time it’s Armor for Sleep and Taking Back Sunday.

I’ve noticed a lot of times when writing that if you start to write too similar to what you listened to 15 years ago, you will sound dated. So instead of listening to Still Searching by Senses Fail, I want to see the way they are doing things now. That way I can add those same classic elements but have a modernized approach to it.

Q: Is there anything else you want your fans and APU readers to know about you, your new music, or your upcoming tour?

Johnny: Personally, I believe in pineapple pizza and I am proud of that. I think pineapple pizza is the Nickelback of the pizza world. Everyone says they don’t like it, yet they sell millions, so someone obviously likes it.

With the new record, I’d say listen to it with an open mind. There are going to be some things you aren’t expecting. Whether you like them or not, I think they can just bring something new to what you’re listening to.

We’re very big on actually meeting people and talking to them. I’ll be out in the crowd before the show, at the merch table, and in the line of people waiting. So, if anyone has any questions, even if it’s something really serious, I have a background in working with kids dealing with suicide prevention and anti-bullying and things like that. So, feel free to hit me with the hard stuff and while I’d never say I’m a counselor and don’t think I legally can, I think I can provide a little bit of advice or something that can help.

That always worked for me. It was the same thing as the church at first. Regular people who haven’t experienced a certain type of life can’t really understand what you’re going through. They just go off a textbook. But you can really connect with people who you see and feel a connection with, even if it’s just through a song.